If You Build it, They Will Come
My two weeks in New York turned into a whirlwind encompassed largely by the League of American Orchestra’s Essentials of Orchestra Management Seminar.
Carnegie Hall
On one of the last days of the seminar, the class met at Carnegie Hall on the corner of 57th & 7th. Here, we were officially documented with a group photo:
2010 Essentials Class
- the Carnegie Society, hightest honors donors
We then met with Clive Gillinson, Carnegie’s Executive and Artistic Director. Gillinson discussed the value of visionary leaders such as Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie built the hall in 1891 for his wife who sang in the NY Oratorio Society. The hall was then on the outskirts of New York City, in “cow town”. It’s success was due to Carnegie’s sheer determination to fill the hall. As a business man who built himself from rags to riches, Carnegie not only revolutionized philanthropy, but also created a haven for intellectual discussion and the arts.me overlooking the lower balcony.
Our next treat was a tour of the inside of the hall, while the stage was being set for the Vienna Philharmonic!
The tour was led by Gino Francesconi, the director of the Rose Museum and Archivist. I should have taken notes! My music history came flooding back and sparked my interest in ethnomusicology again….
Gilded balconies and sparkling chandeliers placed me back in in the turn of the century when the hall was newly built. An air of excitement and anticipation lingers since Carnegie’s music hall opened its first concert. Opening night was on May 5, with a concert conducted by maestro Walter Damrosch and composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Andrew Carnegie illustrated for posterity that if you build it, they will come.
Despite a turbulent history which is the mark of any respectable historical monument, Carnegie Hal is now a cornerstone of the arts in Midtown Manhattan and the goal for all great artists to achieve.
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